Did someone say BALL???

According to Ann, sister Ella is a bit ball crazy.  Read on...

Not to be outdone by sister Swing, Ella finally decided to come in season on Thanksgiving.  That’ll be a date I’ll remember!  Fortunately she’s been excellent and very cooperative about wearing the protective panties.

I had help over the holidays so that I was finally able to capture some photographic evidence of my ball-crazy girl.  Her enthusiasm for tennis balls caused me to switch to Kong or Chuck-It balls after the experience of having her pop regular tennis balls within just a few retrieves.  I also invested in a  Chuck-It launcher so my throws had enough distance on them to wear some of her amazing amount of energy down without having to stay outside for hours. 

Here’s the look of intense desire I see when I mention the word “ball” or prepare to launch another throw.   

And here are a few photos of the girl in action.

And, if a picture’s worth a thousand words, a video must be worth at least a million.  So here’s a video of Ella in action with her beloved tennis ball.  Enjoy!  (Link to video is coming, the file was too large for Ann to send in an email)

Trucking (tracking?) along

Two posts in one evening, I guess when you are on a roll...

Swing has been out in the tracking fields the last few weekends and she is doing quite well.  She is leaning in to the harness and pulling me along, something I really like and prefer when I'm tracking.  Like Dodge, her tail is straight up 6 o'clock when she is on the track but when she hits a turn it isn't as rigid and the line becomes somewhat limp as she tries to figure out the direction of the scent.  Last week I put in a simple "U" track, with a somewhat open turn to finish it out, that I aged for about 10 minutes before we started the track.  I chose this shape simply because I wanted my friend to try and get a decent shot of her working.  You can see the tension on the line in both shots as well as the amount of pull that she is giving me (nowhere near the amount that Dodge does but she is still learning and besides, I don't know that she will ever pull as hard as he does).

 First leg of the track

Nice low nose

Yes, last weekends weather was nice enough that I could work her in a short sleeved tshirt!  Amazingly enough, this type of weather has been this way for the last few November's and I am keeping my fingers crossed that we continue on this trend for a few more weekends.

This weekend we were able to track before I hauled her off to the spa resort (aka, the kennel).  My hopes are that she can come home next weekend and we can have another session where I will age the track a little more and perhaps add a motivational track to keep her interested (thankfully she is eager to track).  We'll see what the week holds for our little girl.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of the M&M pups and their families.  I look forward to hearing how everyone's holiday went.  Just a little reminder, 37 more days before the big man in the red suit arrives!

Milo the Magnificent

Just as I was about to write a post on Swing and her tracking adventures, I received the following email from Art...

I am happy to report that Milo is doing exceedingly well.  I am taking him to obedience class each week and he is showing great promise.  I have also started agility class with Milo.  This is a new one for me, so we are both still trying to figure it out.  (Yes, this is a thinly veiled plea for help from those who have more experience with agility.)  The good news is that Milo loves agility class and I am sure it is just a matter of time before we figure out what it is we have to do. 

We traveled to Maine for vacation this summer.  We stayed where we had access to a dog friendly beach.  Milo was welcome on the beach any time day or night.  As a result, when we went to the water, Milo went with us.  The first picture is of Milo swimming in Maine. 

I have elderly parents that live in Florida.  I travel there often and Milo comes with me.  I found a dog park on the beach and dogs and humans can swim and play together in the water.  When I am in Florida, I make a point of taking Milo every day.  He just loves it, especially if there is a dog or two he can play with.  The ball goes everywhere Milo goes, it is now just a part of him. 

The second picture was taken this afternoon at the Isaac Walton League.  The Isaac Walton League is a 625 acre conservation farm and woodland.  Dogs are welcome and with 625 acres there is plenty of room for Milo to run.    Members of the Isaac Walton League  are expected to do a certain number of hours of volunteer work.   In the background of the picture are the trees I helped plant this Saturday. 

To do my volunteer work, I had to leave Milo at home on Saturday morning.  He took this opportunity to write his first poem.  I should explain that all our Weimaraners have been poets, we even had one that was a philosopher.  Lazlo, after rolling in horse poop one day, postulated , “I stink, therefore others know I am.”  Anyway here is Milo’s first poem.  To all receiving this email, Happy Thanksgiving and a great Holiday Season. 

Cuddle with me mom

For I am sad without my dad

Scratch me behind my ears, mom

For I am sad without my dad

Feed me now, mom

For I am sad without my dad

Throw the ball, mom

Throw the ball

Throw the ball

Throw the ball

 

She's all grown up!

It's been the gremlin lurking in the corner...  I knew the day was coming and I was dreading it but in a way I was also looking forward to it.  Not because of "IT", that part is a pain in the fanny.  What I was looking forward to was watching Swing fill out and change from that lanky little girl to what I hope is a pretty young lady.  Oh yeah, and buying her that first set of PANTIES!  :-)

Yes, at 17 months she has finally come in heat.  I had asked Ann if Ella had reached that milestone and her response was, not yet but the signs were there.  I know what she meant, I could see things changing leading up to last weekend so it was not that much of a surprise.  One nice thing, it isn't as messy as my friends with dobermans have had to experience.  So this weekend she heads off to the kennel during her "hot" time so that I don't have to listen to Dodge fuss around because our little girl  has turned in to HIS woman!  Amy said it will be good for Swing (and me), I know I'll miss and worry about her.  The good part is that Dodge and I will get some much needed quality time together to train and enjoy each others company.  And I think it will be a quiet Thanksgiving and cookie baking day at the Jordan's next week.  Poor Sam, affectionately knows as "the big brown dog", will miss his little playmate.  Sorry Sam.

Oh, when those new panties come in I'll post a picture.  Right now she's wearing her "granny" pants, the kind that look like a pair of Depends (at least they are denim colored), or pull-ups   Compared to them her new ones will have her looking like a Victoria's Secret model!

Next post will have some tracking pictures from last weekend.  Swing is doing very well and if I can keep her out for the next few weeks I'll look in to possibly getting her certified before the end of the year.

Power(less) locks (as promised)

As I mentioned in my last post, the crew got together to train this past weekend.  It was nice to be outside, working sequences and spending time with friends. The weather was cool (ok, chilly compared to what it had been) and the lawn where the agility equipment sits was in perfect shape after Sandy came through the area.

So what about those power locks?  I don't think the person that came up with the idea of power locks thought of the fact that kids and animals somehow manage to find the button on the door, or if you have one of those FOBs for your car key the button on that, at the most inappropriate time.   Now let me say that 1. normally I do not close up the van (but it was chilly) but if I do the windows are usually down partway; 2. normally the only loose dog in the van is Dirk and he doesn't play with buttons; and 3. I rarely take the key out of the ignition and place it somewhere where a dog would step on it.  So it was a big surprise when I was sitting on Howard's tailgate and the van beeped, you know that beep...  I looked at one of my training mates and we both said "what was that?".  Then I stood up and looked at the van.  Hmm, didn't see Dirk but this was the ONE time I didn't crate Dodge after working a sequence since I knew I would be getting him back out in less than 5 minutes.  Nah, that van couldn't have just locked ITSELF.  So I walked over and SHEBANG... doors were locked.  Oh great! There stood Dodge, in between the front seats with Dirk soundly snoozing on the passenger seat (SOP for him) and yep the doors were locked.  Wonderful.  I looked inside and didn't see the keys, not in the ignition or on the seat or in between the seats.  Ok I thought, maybe all of the doors weren't locked and why didn't I have the liftgate open?  Oh yeah because it was chilly and my dogs are naked dogs (compared to the aussies and corgi that we train with).  I uttered those words that we all laugh about every time we hear them.  "This has never happened to me..."  There is always a first time.

A quick (well 25 minute) run down the valley to the house (hey, I got to give my yummy beef stew a quick stir when I ran in to the house to pick up the spare key) and I was back at the farm with spare key to free my dogs from the evils of the locked van.  And then the REAL fun began...

NOT the face of a guilty party

With the van now open I started fishing around to find my keys.  If you've seen my keyring you know that it is almost impossible to miss.  Two FOB type of keys, a mini dumbbell (hey, I'm an obedience buff), some key cards and a few miscellaneous keys, a couple of which I have no idea what they lock or unlock.  Not in the ignition, not in the basket between my seats, not in the area behind the drivers seat, not on the floor under the steering wheel so where were they and how in the world did the van get locked?  Shaking my head I grabbed my slip lead, popped Dodge back in his crate and decided that I had better put the spare key in my jacket before I lost it.  As I walked towards Howard's van it hit me like a ton of bricks... WAIT, did I just think "in my jacket"?  Say it isn't so.  And then I started to chuckle and when I got to Howard's van I started to laugh.  There, on the tailgate, the place where I had been sitting with one of my training mates, was my jacket.  Did I mention that it was chilly that day?  And that I took my jacket off to run a sequence?  And where would be the most logical place to put your keys when they are not in the ignition?  Yessiree, in my JACKET!

I'm not going to point fingers 'cause I can't say for sure but I was the first one to sit on the tailgate and the "beep beep" didn't happen until the other person sat down next to me.  And in my defense, the coat was out of sight and therefore out of mind when my brain realized what it was that my ears heard.  So the dogs didn't lock me out of the van (and themselves in it, thank goodness it was a chilly day) and should this ever happen again I will stop and think before I commandeer a driver to run me back to the house.  Oh yeah, and regardless of the temp, a window will be left open just enough for me to reach down and unlock the van.  This weekend is supposed to be lovely and the van will probably be wide open.

Pictures to follow if it turns out as nice as the weatherman is saying it will!

Shorter days mean less time to play outside

For me "falling back", or the end of Daylight Savings Time, is a time that I personally do not enjoy.  I'm one of the few that find that extra hour (do we really get an extra hour of sleep/rest?) rather exhausting.  By early afternoon I'm beat and find myself dozing off during the NASCAR race or Steelers game (whichever happens to be on, yesterday I had to toggle between both of them although I will admit that I spent more time yelling at the football game than the race.  Yeah, I get a bit mouthy during a Steelers game).  Since I wasn't showing or training my day was spent doing domestic stuff (started out with trip to the grocery store at 7:15am, I should have been there at 6:30), cooking, cleaning, vacuuming and hanging out.  Other than the trip to the store and some time outside cleaning the yard and mowing for what should be the last time this year, my day was rather uneventful.

BUT, we did get to do some agility on Saturday (I say some, there is a story to be told about locking the dogs in the van, I guess I'll do that in another post) and then Howard, Hank and my crew all took a nice hike around the farm to let everyone blow off some steam.  Last weekend my guys did that with the fluffy Sami's so perhaps this will be a weekly thing for the fall/winter weekends.

It has cooled down for the majority of us and some of us got quite wet last week.  I didn't hear from Art so perhaps he can let us know how Milo and the family made out with Sandy.  I think Ella has seen some white stuff by now and rumor has it we may see some later this week in Central PA.  Howard lost a pear tree, I had a shutter ripped off and some furniture thrown off of my porch.  Other than that all was good at my place after Sandy came through the area.  Facebook has kept a lot of  us up to date on friends and family along the east coast, it is a handy service for stuff like that.

If the weather holds for this coming weekend I'll get some pictures of the dastardly duo.  Today our M&M litter is 17 months old!  Time sure seems to have flown, wouldn't you agree?

Stay tuned for the locked van story.

Back to School time

Yep, it is time to go back to school.  Dog school that is.  I know many of us have had our guys in one class  (or seminar/workshop) or another throughout the year but for Dodge and I, we haven't been in a formal class in almost a year and it shows.  So starting next week we will be going to class to challenge us as a team and hopefully bring back the drive and confidence in obedience that was there versus the frustration and lack of effort that we currently have.  There are just some things that can only be accomplished in a class type of setting.  I'm fortunate to know the instructor well (I've trained with her in the past) and there are a couple of other ladies in the class that have problems similar to what our problems are.  I'm looking forward to the class, I sure hope Dodge is!

Things that I hope to accomplish are getting us back to the place where going in the ring isn't like walking in to take a drivers test or that big finals exam.  I'm sure you know that feeling and if you are like me it is not a pleasant one.  I felt this way with Moose, my GSP that was my Novice A dog, and he did all that he could to lighten up the atmosphere when we were in the ring.  I realized after one unsuccessful weekend that I was the problem and once I corrected that (I was too serious in the ring but not as serious in practice, or in other words I wasn't showing like I trained) our ring experience was much more pleasant.  I believe I'm in that same place with Dodge but the difference is that I know HE knows the exercises so for example, when he messes up and doesn't do his automatic sit my reaction causes him to digress and loose attitude (my reaction is to show and "tell" him to sit which I think causes him to loose focus and when that happens his overall attitude stinks).  So hopefully I'll gain some new tools, or rather sharpen the ones I have, that will help US in the ring (he just completed his Beginner Novice title which I decided to pursue to keep us in the ring so that we could get a bit more comfortable with each other).  We do not suffer from the same attitude problem when we compete in agility and I think it is because I am not as serious (hmm, that word has cropped up a lot in this post) about competing in that venue.  Maybe it is because he is quite talented (I tell everyone that if I would put half as much effort in to agility training as I do obedience training I could go far with him) and I don't put as much weight on showing.  If we qualify that is great but not qualifying doesn't feel like it does when it happens in obedience.  I want to feel that way when I walk out of an obedience ring, if he's given me his best effort and failed an exercise I want to know that it wasn't because of a lack of effort on his part.

Switching gears, the dew crew and I are hanging with our friends the Jordan's this weekend, they graciously let us stay at their place when I have a trial nearby or join them for holiday meals.  Swing likes to visit because they have a big GSP named Sam that she likes to play with (we call him the "big brown dog').  Dirk gets to hang on their couch and Dodge likes to play referee when Sam and Swing are playing.  We are lucky to have great friends like them, not too many people would put up with our silliness.

I am remiss on reporting on the activities of our siblings but part of that is because you guys haven't filled me in on the latest.  I know that Hank/Beau just spent over a week in the kennel while Howard was catching some rays on the west coast (Howard reports that after some intestinal distress for the first couple of days Hank survived and was super happy to come home) and I believe Ella too spent some time incarcerated while her family enjoyed a trip to "The Big Island" (our 50th state).  I hope to have some pictures to post the next time I blog and I'd love to get some from the siblings.  This is a good time of the year to get portrait shots and I think I'll have to pull together our training crew for some updated pictures of the dogs.  I guess that means I better get the camera gear out and in the van because those pictures won't appear on their own!

Fall sports

Fall is my second favorite season because it means that winter, and the potential for snow, will be here before you know it.  It is also my favorite time of the year for sports, both human and canine sports.  Football has begun (and so far the Steelers are 1-1), NASCAR is winding down (my favorite driver is coasting towards retirement and there isn't anyone in particular that I want to show an allegiance to), and this is the time of year when tracking picks up as well as the fall shows, obedience trials and agility trials.  For Swing we are dabbling in the show ring but I'm also putting her back on the tracking line with the goal of getting her certified before winter officially arrives.

Last week was the first time we had been out in the field since May and I didn't start off where we left off but rather pushed forward.  What I learned from the first dog that I tracked was that you shouldn't spend too much time on a step when your dog is catching on to what you want them to do.  With the Weims I noticed that they can be pushed quickly in the early stages and once they pick up the idea of working turns, distance and age can be worked on almost immediately.  Since Swing when from a double laid track with the track layer standing at the end of the track to a single laid track with the track layer following us in 3 sessions, I felt confident that once she figured out how to do a turn, adding more than one to a track should be fairly simple.  She did not disappoint me, last week I put in a "U" track and she ran it almost perfectly (she had a little problem working against the grain of the field, but I was patient and let her figure it out).  I also used her track to have a cross track for Dodge to work through, one advantage to having two dogs tracking.

Since the weather put a damper on agility training this evening, I promised myself that I'd get the duo out in to the field again.  This time the U track had two left turns (last week it was two right turns) and she did much better going against the grain (I put two of the three legs against the grain of the field).  My objective is to do one or two more U's and then I'll get her back on a long straight track that I will begin to add some age to.  If I can get her out at least once a week I should be on schedule to set up a certification track by late October/early November.

For those of you that do not participate in tracking, in order for your dog to be eligible to enter a tracking test, you have to have a judge "certify" that the dog can track.  It is the one sport where the dog must show that it has the ability to do the job before it can enter a test.  This only has to be done once (unless you can not get in to a test within a year of being certified) for each dog and only to get their TD (Tracking Dog).  The certificate is good for you a year and you enclose it with your entry to a tracking test.  I prefer to track when it is quite cool/chilly out.  I've been known to be out in 20 degrees with a good wind going.  So you can see why Fall and Winter are my favorite seasons.

Stay tuned, I'll see if I can get some pictures of the little girl on a track.  She still has a ways to go but what I'm seeing looks very promising.  And as for the conformation ring, she is still looking pretty immature compared to some of the bitches that are out there.  Amy thinks she's just going to be a slow maturer (and I'm sure Ella and Milo are in the same boat) that may not fill out until she is closer to 2 years of age.  We'll enter some outdoor shows but we are not going to go at it like gangbusters.  I can spend that entry fee a lot more wisely on matches and other training.

Swimming in Lake Redmond

Saturday we went for a swim with the GraytSky family.  Amy and Michael wanted to get Fala, now 19 weeks old, in the water again after a successful intro at an indoor doggie pool.  I'm toting around Ziva, my friend's welsh springer spaniel, so I wanted to see how she would do, as well as Swing who's been in my friends pool a few times.  Dodge has been in water but I wanted to get him doing some more retrieving.  We had dogs at all levels, Beau was still tentative at first (but quickly came around) while the others were either willing or bold.  The area we chose to get the dogs in the water was knee deep until you got about 10 feet from the bank.  It then became thigh deep and since neither Michael, Howard or I were wearing swim suits we didn't bother venturing out much farther than that.  I am sure it was closer to chest deep when you got 20 feet out since we were throwing bumpers that far for Dodge and he was swimming to get them.  Anyway, the following shots will tell the story better than words...

In case it isn't obvious, the little red and white one is Ziva and she and Swing have been having a blast together.  I'm sure they will enjoy seeing each other again after Ziva goes home at the end of the week.

Fall show season will be starting very soon and we are kicking it off next weekend by going to a match where Fala will make his ring debut.  We will also be joined by another GraytSky bred dog, Buzz from MD.  So far the weather is favorable but who knows what it will be like 6 days from now.  I know that sister Ella will be showing soon and hopefully Ann will let us know how she does (oh, Swing is entered at a show on the 15th so the match is a warm up for her).

Puppy sitting is taking up a lot of our time right now so training has been limited to doodling in the house.  And on this Labor Day we are doing some doodling and watching marathons of NCIS and Rizzoli and Ives.  What else should you do on a dreary/rainy day?  Other than housework that is!

The Ziva invasion & measuring

We have a "guest" at the house.  Her name is Ziva and she has her own blog.  Well it isn't HER blog, but it is a way to keep her owner in touch with her while she's across the pond visiting friends in England.  So feel free to click on the link to read about her adventure at what I'm calling "Camp Jill".

Since we have Ziva most of my effort has been put in to writing about her.  But life isn't all about her in my house, Swing and Dodge and Dirk are still my main pups and let me tell you, they are all very good with Ziva.  I am very fortunate that my dogs have always accepted other dogs that I've brought in to the house.  I believe it is a testament to good temperament and great personalities.  Swing is having a great time with this new playmate.  She has to be reminded to go a little easy on her in the yard since she's use to wrestling and slamming in to Dodge.  But she's doing much better and I think she'll miss the red and white girl when she goes back to her owner next weekend (yep, she's with us for almost 2 weeks).

The EZ Wicket that I ordered a month ago finally arrived last night and I just couldn't wait to use it.  It's a very nice piece of equipment, lightweight and very durable looking.  I wish I had it the night before because Howard wants to know exactly what Beau's height is.  We'll get that measurement next time we see them.  In the meantime Swing's height is 25 1/4 inches at the withers and hopefully she'll drop a little once she comes in to heat and her chest drops.  Dodge stands 26 1/8 inches, definitely not the 27 inches that the official agility VMO measured him at (and if obedience required height cards you can bet that I'd have him re-measured).  Ziva is too short to measure since the smallest height this wicket can register is 17 inches.

My guys are on a short break from shows at this time.  Swing will show in a couple of weekends at a small show outside of Allentown and then Dodge will take center stage for a few weeks playing in the obedience and agility rings.  My retraining, or should I say re-working, of his ring confidence and attitude in obedience continues and we'll be showing in Beginner Novice to get us through this bump that turns out is much bigger than I realized.  Once again I hope to have him back in the Open ring this fall to go for his CDX.

Good luck to all of Swing's siblings in whatever adventures they are embarking on.  We'd love to see you guys again some time.

Ella updates!

We haven't been doing much in the heat.  I'm working on getting Ella to stand for an exam like the Novice stand which is good practice for the breed ring. She's entered in her first match the end of the month & then hopefully at least one day in a small outdoor trial before the Wine Country Circuit in late September. 

We've been focusing on weaves - entries specifically. Helene has a very different method from the way I taught Stanford. She really focuses on their commitment to always put the first weave on their left. We began with only 1 weave, then moved to 2 & just added a third. We work around the clock and I also vary my position & speed. I am in no hurry so I want to be sure she is very solid at each step before moving forward.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Let us know how she does at the match Ann and thanks for writing!

Milo's many travels (the New England tour)

I wanted to send a brief note.  We have been traveling since Wednesday.  We drove to Vermont to see Gogol Bordello, a punk rock group, in concert.  It’s a long story.  Today we left for Maine and I am writing this email from a hotel in Bath, Maine.  Milo is sleeping on the bed. 

On the way from Vermont to Maine we stopped at the Dog Chapel.  I had heard about this place and had even bought t-shirts with reproductions on them from the artist who created the Dog Chapel.  It was a fun place to visit.  People come there and post pictures and letters about their departed pets.  This is the first church I have ever visited that welcomed dogs.  The gift shop has lots of cool stuff and Milo now sport a very trendy bandana, with the artist work “Bad dog” on one side and “Good dog” on the other. 

Tomorrow we visit Bowdoin College Art Museum to see William Wegman’s show.   One of us will be outside with Milo, who will be outside signing autographs.  Then on to the Bar Harbor area where we rented a house for the week. 

In the last month,  Milo has  become ball crazy.  All he want is for us to throw him the ball, over and over again.  He can go on for hours.  Certainly longer than we can.  When we want him to stop we tell him the ball is tired and that is his signal to stop playing.  He is a funny guy and a great travel companion. 

    

One year later...

Believe it or not it has been a year since Swing came home to live with "the boys" and I.  Whew, time sure has flown.  We've done a number of things over the last year, attended a puppy agility workshop, Fit to be Tricked workshop, a couple of obedience seminars (as both an auditor and a participant), traveled to Orlando to debut in breed at the cluster before the Eukanuba show, showed in a few matches, went to agility trials (to keep Dodge company), made numerous visits to Amy and Michael, and the list goes on.  We continue to take lessons from our friend Nancy in Harrisburg and this fall she will see the breed ring a few more times before getting back in to tracking.

One reoccurring theme here seems to be this - Swing is one well traveled gal!  Born in New Orleans, the litter made its first trip at the tender age of 5 weeks when they were driven up to Knoxville TN by their co-breeders where Amy and I met them before bringing them back to southern PA.  They spent a few weeks at Amy's, growing and being stimulated by toys, visitors, other dogs, etc. and finally at about 9 weeks the majority of them headed to their new homes.  I believe Gracie Dot traveled the farthest to her final destination in St. Louis MO.  I was fortunate because I got to see all of them every weekend and it was so much fun watching them grow and develop.  Gracie Dot always brought a smile to our faces with her spunky attitude and just plain "cuteness".  Beau, who was the bruiser at first, to this day loves to play keep-away with sticks and toys.  Ella, the sweet one, came out of her shell after moving to Rochester to join Dodge's brother Stanford (I told Ann she and I are cousins since we own littermates from two litters) and Milo sprung up and is now much taller than Beau.  Speaking of Milo, I know he has logged a number of miles too making a few trips to FL and back in his first year.  Travel is definitely something these guys are comfortable with!

 Ella @ 6 weeks

Swing @ 6 weeks

Swing @ 13 months

Gracie Dot @ 7 weeks (didn't I tell you she was cute!)

For those of you that have never seen our puppies grandfather, here is Mia's daddy Mason who is co-owned by Mary Ann and Laura, co-breeders of our litter!

Mason

Swing and I have had a great year and for me personally, owning a little girl after 20+ years has not been as bad as I thought.  I make no bones of the fact that I love my boys and perhaps she will be my one in a million (hopefully that will not be the case but...).  The ride has just begun and my plans for her are lofty.  She's starting to show in conformation (we've been trying to let her grow out as she's been somewhat slow to develop) and as I mentioned above, I'd like to pick up tracking again in hopes of following in Dodge's footsteps and making that her first performance title.  The effort I put in to her foundation work seems to be paying off in obedience training and once she's steady on stationary skills we'll start to work on some more agility skills.  Lots of time to accomplish that discipline as I like to get my guys in the obedience ring before heading down THAT path <wink>!

So what about the rest of our siblings, send me your reflections on the last year and your goals and hopes for the future of your puppy.  Swing and I hope to see sister Ella and brother Milo soon (shows and matches, right guys?) and of course the dastardly duo will be up to their own shenanigans, especially if I have anything to do with it (I'm always coming up with something for them to do together be it a seminar or workshop or just a get together with our friend Helen and her fluffy samoyeds Ravi and Spice).  Until next time...

Training odds and ends

My 2x2 weaves arrived last week and I've set up one pair to start teaching Swing  the correct way to enter weaves.  The first two sessions were in the kitchen where there is just enough room to work (boy would I kill for a hallway or walkway like Howard has at his place!).  I went to a workshop a few months ago and the woman teaching it had a modified method taken from Susan Garrett.  I liked her thought process so I'm going to use that as the foundation for Swing's training.  I'm also going to re-train Dodge a bit since he generally does not "look" for the entrance (in a trial I do my best to line him up for the optimal entrance which slows us down a tad).

I started seriously training Dodge in agility just over 2 years ago to get him ready for Nationals.  He was introduced to weaves using the channel method and I really liked how it taught him how to drive through the weaves versus popping back and forth.  What I failed to do was spend time teaching him how to find the entrance so now I'm going back to that with him while starting it with Swing.  I'm standing at the 6 o'clock position (weave pole is the 12 o'clock), facing the weaves and with her on my right I start out holding her and then I let go of her collar and all she needs to do is find the correct entrance.  I'm close to the pole so that she doesn't cut in front of me and as soon as she enters the weaves I pitch a treat out and to the left to get her to drive forward in preparation for when the next pair of weaves is there.  Once she is going well with me facing the weaves I'll turn 90 degrees and have her wrap around me to the entrance.  Then I'll start to move "around the clock" so that no matter where I am she will find that entrance.  I'll add the second set of 2x2's but have them spaced 6 feet away so that it looks like another entrance.  When you get to this point you can start to walk along the weaves which now adds the moving component.  This first part however is where I need to spend time so that I'm not redoing it in the future.

Sessions one and two lasted no more than 10 minutes with two dogs working the entrance (that can be challenging as both of them want to do what the other one is doing and unlike me, neither of them has a lot of patience about waiting for their turn!).  I do plan on using the channel weaves to get the forward driving motion that I like, but that part won't start until the entrance is engrained in her muscle memory.

On Saturday we paid a visit to Amy and Michael and met their new addition.  Fala arrived last weekend from Poland and oh my, what a sweetie!  After bowling him over a few times, Swing enjoyed playing with him and once he got over her boisterous play style, he engaged her and they looked like they were having fun.  Dodge was very good with him as well, normally he can be a little verbal with youngsters but he wasn't that way with Fala (Swing probably distracted the pup from pestering Dodge).  For those of you that didn't get to see his picture on FB, here is a shot from a practice session he had with Michael...

Fala

And the trip wouldn't be complete if Michael didn't stack Swing for Amy and I to look at (BTW, this shot was taken after Swing had settled down a bit.  Amy asked me at one point if she is always this "active".  She said Swing made Rosey look like a slug!  I told her that Rosey was about this energetic when I had her - I'm not sure Amy believed me).

Swing (13 months)

Another reason for the trip was to see how she is coming along and talk about future shows and if she is ready.  Amy was pleased with how she looks so we will be showing in breed next weekend and the following weekend.  After that we'll see where she is at and what shows to hit.  Conformation training, which isn't high on my priority list, is important for a future show dog which means this week I should put the show lead on and do some stacking and gaiting.  Swing understands the basics, now it is time to start upping the ante and asking her to set up on her own and immediately break in to a trot on her down and back.

I hope to have a report on Ella soon and I'll see if Howard can bring us up to speed on what Beau has been doing lately.  Perhaps one or both of them will see the conformation ring this summer (hint, hint!).  And if we can tear brother Milo away from the storks...

Milo - 1, storks - 0

While on a recent trip to FL, Milo encountered some interesting feathered fowl.  In this video Milo the Magnificent is the victor while the storks, well they had to temporarily vacant the premises until the wayward weim was captured (and note that we do not see that part on the video, hee hee).

Hey Art, give a bird dog permission to "get it" and what do expect?  :-)

There is a second video of poor Milo behind the window being teased by the group of storks who are enjoying hotdogs (yes, who would have thought that they would like hotdogs?).  Anyway, it came through upside down so once I can flip it over I'll post it.

Swing and I thought of our little sister Gracie Dot this past week when the temps were so high, hopefully the spitfire and her family are doing well.  Even Ella has had to endure some pretty high temps up there in the Rochester area!  I bet Ann and the crew are wishing things were more like the temps we had when Swing and Hank visited back in May!

Stay cool everyone.  Next weekend we are going to try to take a trip to GraytSky to meet the newest member of the family.  I'll get some pictures of the little fella and introduce him in a future post.  I hope he knows English by the time I get there, I may need to brush up on my French (or does he speak Polish???).  STAY TUNED!

Strong's 15 pts to go

As promised, but not quite on time, info from the Greg Strong handling seminar the crew and I went to in mid-June.  It was a long week for the dogs and myself, they spent the week in the kennel while I was in Virginia Beach helping my mom.  I had decided to skip the seminar since I wasn't sure when I would be back from moms.  But the club contact insisted that I come to the seminar even if it was only for the second day.  So after thinking about it for a few days I decided to miss most of Saturday morning and drive to NJ instead of springing the dogs from the kennel late Friday afternoon and immediately driving another 3.5 hours (that would have been over 11 hours on the road and I knew that there would be no way ANY of us would get a good nights sleep).  So I picked the dogs up Friday afternoon, we all took some time to decompress and the gypsies hit the road bright and early on Saturday.

I arrived at the fairgrounds (these are the same fairgrounds the club uses for their shows, I remember going their once with my Welsh Springer friends) and the participants were in the ring outside working on stand stay.  Ok, Swing has started learning that for obedience... guess I could use it in breed stuff!  Duh!  I opted to watch this particular exercise and join in once lunch was over.  Greg took everyone inside to do a little more talking before we took a lunch break.  In the afternoon we were outside doing some stacking and with 23 participants that took a while.  He showed each of us how to relax/connect with our dogs and show off features and improve our presentation so that the "essence of the breed" came through.  Swing acted like she was bothered by some gnats so by the time our turn came she was a bit stiff and hunched up.  Greg gave me some instructions on what to do and she relaxed enough to present herself well (ok, what did I do?  I stroked her from head to tail and I reached under her crotch and stroked upward to her tail).  We finished the afternoon with some more lecture and some stories and before we broke up Greg asked that I bring Swing out one more time to show some slight tweaks you can do to really show off neck and shoulder.

Day two built on what was discussed on day one (using your "magic wands", aka your fingers, to sooth and manipulate your dog, etc.).  He covered gaiting, courtesy turns (when and why you should do them) and he also talked about what speed is natural and right for your dog.  We went outside to work on these thing and the last part of the day he talked about showing, how many times you should show to a judge before you write them off, good sportsmanship, being gracious, and if you intend to stick with showing how you should establish credibility.  He touched on conditioning, both for the dog and the handler (mental conditioning for the handler) and the use of bait.  The day ended with some free baiting and presentation.  We did not stay for the competition portion since I wanted to be home in time to get a good nights sleep.

A lot more could have been covered but as Greg said, you would need a few days just to concentrate on gaiting and presentation alone (and conditioning would take at least a day).  He had some good stories and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him put his hands on dogs.  It is the main reason why I wanted to go to a seminar of his.  Swing was mentally exhausted by the end of the weekend and she ended up in a bit of a mood which is another reason that I opted out of the competition.  If she isn't going to present herself (and I will admit that I do need to actually train her a little more) then there was no point in participating.  I am sure that Amy would concur.

Next on the agenda, an obedience seminar with Bridget Carlsen.  I will probably have a TON of notes from that one as I'm auditing versus having a working spot.  My trainer Nancy raved about her the first time that she saw her and I've only heard good things about her methods.  If I have any tips I'll gladly pass them along.

Until next time, get out there and train in whatever discipline you love.  Me, I'll be working on breed/obedience/agility/tracking (if/when the weather breaks) with my M&M pup!

Summer is here!?

Wow, summer arrived hotter than normal here in Central PA.  To say that the seasons so far this year have been "odd" is a bit of an understatement.  Swing and I wonder what the second half of the year will be like.

I've neglected the blog even though I know all of the M&M kids have been busy.  Swing and I participated in a Greg Strong handling seminar the weekend of June 16-17 just to name one of the things that we've done since the last post.  More on that seminar in the next post (and I promise to do that before the beginning of July).  We have not accomplished a lot in training this month, the human part of the equation had to make a trip to VA Beach for a week, Dodge had an agility and an obedience trial to go to and oh yeah... the trip to Dover for the NASCAR race!  But we are picking up again and our goal is to have the foundation of "stay" in place by the end of July.

Let's hear from the rest of the gang.  What are your goals for this summer?   I've decided to focus more on obedience with Dodge (we've been having some growing pains and struggling with Open and mostly because of the lack of consistency on my part).  The "stay" gremlin that I feared would plague us (Murphy's Law, I worried about it so much that I believe I created the problem) needs to be conquered and hopefully Swing will benefit from just one of the mistakes I have made with him.  And both of them will do a little tracking when the weather permits so that we can be ready for the winter tests (maybe Swing will be ready to certify by late fall).  Of course we will do a lot of playing and enjoying hanging out and perhaps we'll get the chance to visit with friends as well.

Next post will have info on the Strong seminar and some pictures from the spring.  Welcome to summer everyone!  Stay cool, safe and don't forget to share your adventures with the rest of us.

Happy Birthday M&M pups!

One year ago today our crew arrived thanks to the efforts of our fabulous breeders,  Amy Anderson, Laura Lauffer and Mary Ann Richards.  Without the cooperation and knowledge of the pedigree our wonder pups would not be the up and coming bunch that they will be.  Ok, the owners have a major roll in that area but it goes without saying that these girls did a great job choosing the right sire and dam to produce our monsters (geez, did I say that out loud?  <wink>).  I've tried to report on various activities/antics our bunch have engaged in over the last 10 months and I hope everyone will continue to provide me with stories, videos and pictures as we all move forward with our goals for these guys.  And hopefully we will get to see each other at some point in our travels this next year as we continue to enjoy our pups.

Speaking of video, I was going back through my mail and realized that I did not report on Milo's swimming experience last month.  For those of you that did not see/read the story, here it is...

We took Milo swimming this Friday.  After some initial hesitation, Milo
started enjoying his time in the water.  After a half hour of swimming he
was one tired boy.  As we all know, a tired Weimaraner is a good
Weimaraner.

In case you are interested the facility is Canine Fitness Center
888-711-7947 .  The instructor was very good and the price for a half hour
session is reasonable.

It looks like Milo did enjoy himself and I'm sure he'll get the chance to do some more swimming this year.  Swing and Hank will probably enjoy our friends pool this year when we are at the farm training but maybe we can meet up with Milo at some point as well.

Ann and I took our crew to a nice creek while we were in NY a few weeks ago.  Ella has had very little exposure to water and Stanford will wade in up to his chest.  With the help of my guys (even Dirk, who has very limited vision, got his feet wet) those two were slopping around in the creek trying to steal Dodge's pheasant and chasing sticks, etc.  The water wasn't very high but it was a good experience and now I've got a young lady that want to stomp through every puddle (muddy or not) around!

Spring has returned to Central PA, it's been cool and cloudy/drizzly for the last day and today does  not look like things will improve.  It's all good though, I'm not in a hurry to see summer arrive in full force yet.  I hope all is well in everyone's part of the country and stay tuned, I hope to have more to post this coming year!

The dastardly duo take a trip north to visit Ella

As the title states, Swing and Hank went north to Macedon NY to see sister Ella while Dodge competed at the DOTCORNY agility trial.  Ann had asked us to come up for the trial for a "family" get together since she never got to see the entire litter.  So Howard agreed to take brother Beau and of course I had my crew with me.  It was a wonderful weekend for an agility trial and Ella got to play with her brother and take a romp along a pathway that led to a creek where the girls, along with the two brothers (did I mention that Ann owns Dodge's brother Stanford?  Owning siblings must make Ann and I 2nd sisters or cousins or something like that!  Heck, we'll just say that we are family) to play in the water for almost an hour.  It was a nice setting and we have Heather to thank for the suggestion (she calls it her secret place).  All of the pups had a good weekend hanging at the trial, walking around and taking in the sights and sounds as well as meeting new dogs and people.  A big thank you to Ann for having us over for supper one evening and then taking us to the training bldg to play on some agility equipment as well as practice some breed stuff.  As you can see, Ella did pretty well with stacking

and hopefully Ann will send us some more pictures from her other camera in the near future.

Hank had a great weekend as well.  Not only did he get to spend a lot of time with his sisters but he got to travel with Howard to a trial and spend time hanging with him in a hotel.  I heard that he slept well and other than not eating his breakfast one morning (I hand fed him later that afternoon), he seemed to adjust to being on the road.  I'm sure he was super happy to have his human for the weekend as Howard has been judging a lot lately.  There was one "escape" the first day, my fault since I thought I could open the xpen door and slip in without too much trouble, WRONG!  It made for an interesting minute as I scrambled to catch two enthusiastic puppies who just wanted to run around and say hi to anyone and everyone they could.  Thank you to the lab owner who captured Hank by luring him with some yummy goodie, obviously he's a sucker for chopped ham or chicken or whatever he had.  I learned my lesson with that escapade, the door the xpen was not opened until the leash was attached to the young man!  I'm just glad neither one ended up in the ring!  I think Howard would have blown his whistle and kicked us out for good!  :-)

Have a nice Memorial Day holiday everyone.  Just a heads up, our crew turns 1 year old VERY soon!  Oh, Ann decided to celebrate their birthday a little early since she wont' see us for a while.  She made a special cake which Ella, Stanford, Dodge and Swing all enjoyed.  I might have a picture of the group waiting for their piece of cake.  I'll post one when I find it.

Training cats, or thinking about it

Yep, you read that right.  I'm visiting my mom for a couple of days (and Swing is having a blast helping Amy with yard work from what I'm told) and you guessed it, she has cats (mom wants me to assure everyone that she has been and will always be a dog person).  Two of them to be exact, one is a rescue who showed up on her front door step around Christmas time in pretty bad shape, and the other is a, well his nickname is Lucifer.  Her rescue is basically a couch potato, kind of like Dirk.  She is epileptic so she gets medicated twice a day.  I swear that it makes her a zombie but if that keeps her from having seizures then WTH.  Her routine, and amazingly she doesn't deviate from it when company is here (if you have ever been around cats you know that they are either scared of anyone new and flee at the mere sight of you, or they are super friendly and could care less if you are invading their territory.  These two fall in to the latter) is to get up in the morning around 6am, eat breakfast, lounge on the kitchen table, get her meds and then retire to the bed by the fireplace.  She's quite passive and actually didn't mind that I cut her toenails (yes, knowing that I'm the toenail fanatic mom got a set of clippers and I'm now cutting cat nails).  But she isn't the one that I'd like to train, Lucifer (whose real name is Mouse) is the character and the type of cat that I know dog trainers would have a blast with.

This guy is inquisitive, nosey, pushy, curious, and basically can not stand it if he isn't the center of attention!  Sound like some Weims that you all know?  Oh did I mention that he is grey and white and of the longhair variety?

   Mouse (aka "Lucifer")

Anyway, just the personality that I love working with but with a twist (obviously, he is a cat after all!).  I've been observing him for the last two days and he's definitely trainable, oh how I wish I had gotten to him when he was a little kitten.  But I digress... cats, like puppies, appear to have a pretty short attention span, especially ones like Mouse.  He doesn't want to miss a thing, remind you of your M&M pup?  So training him would mean short, quick sessions lasting maybe a minute but I think you could have multiple sessions throughout the day.  And since cats love to play I'm going to say that using toys would be the preferred reinforcement method since most of the cats that I've known do not care to take treats from your hand (I believe that stems from the fact that they are not fully domesticated and prefer being the ones to deliver goodies rather than receive them).  But if you want to use food then I would say that the best time to use it is when the cat is hungry (so in Mouse's case that is at 5:30 in the morning!).  Crate games would be useful, cats like to get inside of things and they could blast out of the crate after that feather toy, and if you have a crate trained cat they would be less stressed going to the vet or kennel (kind of like our dogs).  And agility, especially contacts, we all know how they love to climb, walk across the counters and backs of the sofa (hey, that sounds like some Weims I know, present company NOT included, well at least not with the counter stuff) and run through things like tunnels.  Lucifer (sorry, Mouse) will fly up the stairs to beat you up there and I've noticed that his preferred side is in heel position.  Teaching him to move in that position could be challenging, he likes to lag and then forge (blasts) past you, wanting to make sure he beats you to your destination.  Yep, heeling would be a bit of an adventure with him.  Sounds like fun to me!

So what does all of this jibber-jabber mean or tie in to our pups?  Well nothing really but if you are constantly thinking of how to train or re-train something (and I do), watching other species may clue you in to something.  They all have their own signals, mannerisms and way of "speaking" that isn't that far off of what we observe in our dogs (admit it, Weims have their own language when you compare them to Goldens, BCs, Shelties, etc.), all you need to do it watch.  And that is what fascinates me about cats in particular.  We all know that every dog is different but sometimes people get caught up in using the same method every time.  I have tried different things with each dog and I'm still trying new things on each dog.  I evaluate every little piece of every exercise, be it in obedience, agility, tracking and yes, conformation (which is the one that I spend the least amount of time picking apart, sorry Amy) and by doing that I find that I'm always making adjustments.

I guess what I'm saying is take time to watch a cat if the opportunity presents itself.  While similar in some respects (like my dogs Mouse is now sacked out on the cat tree, the mid-morning nap that happens in my house every day) they can certainly teach you something about body language and communication.  I know that I'd be up for the challenge of training one!

Noel's version of a down stay, in style of course!

Playing catch up

Wow, has it been a few weeks since the last post?  I did start one on the 2x2 weaves workshop that Swing and I attended, guess I had better finish that one up and get it posted.

Since the last post Swing and Hank had a sleepover and play day and I'm not sure who was more tired when it was all said and done, Howard or the pups.  We arranged the fun time for a couple of reasons, as many of you know our little brother lost his two housemates and became a singlet for the first time in his young life.  The adjustment has been somewhat normal, escaping from the xpen (Hank learned to push it to the edge of the step down in to the family room which allowed him to slip under it and have free run of the house one afternoon while Sue was at work) and not eating very well.  So the visit with his sis was planned and Howard picked her up on his way back from an agility match on Thursday evening. Like any sleepover, the youngsters were up way past their bedtime romping around and wreaking havoc at Howard's place.  When I checked in with them on Friday morning I was told that no one got more than 2-3 hours of sleep, typical of a sleepover.  Arrangements were made to pick up the little heathen later that evening when the boys and I got back from the agility trial we were at.  I'll post what Howard said they did while Swing was visiting but the purpose of the visit was to give Hank some companionship (doggie that is) and I think the mission was accomplished as I was told that EVERYONE got a good nights sleep on Friday night (and both pups ate very well during the visit).

Tracking class began for Swing and I the first week in April.  Since she was already started (but we had not done anything in a few months), I have been pushing her on a bit faster than the rest of the class and she has been taking it all in stride.  We haven't introduced the turn yet, that comes this week (we'll try a turn, the rest of the class will be instructed on how to lay a turn).  If she continues at the pace that she is moving at my hopes are that we can get certified this fall and if that goes well then we'll look for a test in December (I prefer tracking in cold/damp/miserable weather).

Of course obedience training continues and after watching the Beginner Novice class at the WCWDCA Specialty, I think I'll work on getting Swing ready for that class.  Perhaps she'll be ready to compete by next years Specialty!

No new pictures for this post.  I'll work on that for next time.  In the meantime, let's hear from the rest of the crew!

Another breed match in the life of the M&M pups

Before I get to the workshop that Swing and I attended I wanted to tell the M&M fans about the match we attended on Sunday.  The dastardly duo became part of the talented trio when brother Milo joined us at the NEMKC (Northeast MD KC) breed/obed match on Sunday.  Darby (owned by Amy B.) and Dodge, who are cousins to the M&M pups (I think that is right, let me see if I can get this straight... Darby is out of Dagmar who is the sister to Yankee and Mason.  Yankee is Dodge's mom and Mason is the puppies grandfather.  That makes Dodge and Darby half cousins to Mia, the talented trios mom!  We won't go in to the fact that the pups dad is the great grandsire of Darby and Dodge!), were entered in obedience, as was Milo, while the dastardly duo focused on the breed stuff.  Milo started out the day with a pre-Novice run in the obedience ring.  Art said he was a bit distracted and not as focused as he is in class.  No wonder since the boys got to the match site with about 10 minutes to get registered in settled.  And to top it off, they were the first team in the ring!  Now who in the world made that happen?  I mean he was one of the last ones to sign up!  Geez.  It wasn't long before the trio were called in to the ring for breed judging.  Milo and Beau (Hank) went in together and did their best impressions of seasoned breed dogs (I did say their "best"), doing a nice job of standing for their examinations, doing their down and back (psst hey Milo, you are suppose to trot on that part.  I know, you are all legs right now...) before their final go around.  Milo took the first place ribbon but brother Hank did an equally nice job and got a second.  Swing was next in the ring and since she was the only little girl showing she got a first by default.  Milo returned to the ring and both of them did another down and back before going around together and after looking at both of them standing and doing their best to look like each should be the breed winner, the judge chose Milo to go on to the Group.  It was a nice sized group (the largest one of the day I believe) and our brother looked good but he just couldn't beat the Chessie or Golden puppies for cuteness.  Congrats Milo, you are on your way!

Swing warming up before going in the ring (photo by Amy's iPhone)

Dodge and Darby were entered in obedience and unfortunately I did not get to see all of Darby's run.  I did hear from Amy that Darby decided to leave the ring to look for Amy and Michael (are we confused yet with all of the Amy's?????) and because of that Amy A. may never get to see Darby show.  Either that or Amy B. (yes, one of them has a last name that starts with A and the others last name starts with B.  Seriously, I'm not making this up!) is just going to have to convince Darby that she can work in the company of her favorite handler and co-owner.  :-)  Dodge is use to working with friends around so while his run wasn't as good as it can be, he did have his brilliant moments and I'm proud of him.  I learned that he is a bit sensitive and somewhat serious in the ring so any feedback that is misconstrued as a negative sets him back a step and he struggles to get back on track.  I have been working on requiring that he give me better attention during heeling since he has sniffed the stewards and basically gawked around at certain points in the heel pattern.  Unfortunately, any second command is taken as a correction and he has a minor meltdown which results in no sits.  Doing a match is just another way to find out how I can help him figure things out and our judge was kind enough to humor me as I worked to get him to reconnect.  Unfortunately his stays fell apart after having 2 successful days of stays at a recent trial.  I'm going to blame that on the fact that he needed to poop (can I say that in this blog?  Of course, I'm the one writing and we are all dog folk...).  I'll forgive him this time but you can be assured that I will continue to train stays which is something I presently loath doing!

Unfortunately, because we were all running between rings I did not get the chance to take any pictures.  But is was nice seeing all of the GraytSky family and perhaps we'll get the chance to do it again.  I told Amy B. that perhaps we will see each other at an obedience trial this year as I'd enjoy having another GraytSky dog to watch.  And I'm sure Art and Milo will be in the obedience ring before the year is over.

Next blog entry, Swing and I are invited to a 2x2 weave workshop.  Quite exciting if I must say so myself!